


Cereal Wars

by Winginblood



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 01:18:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1586351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winginblood/pseuds/Winginblood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What the f**k are you doing?” </p><p>Steve looked over towards Tony, back to the bowl, newspaper, and glasses of juice and milk spread out in front of him, and then back to Tony. He turned his attention back to the newspaper as he replied, “Well, it sure looks like I’m eating breakfast and reading the newspaper. I guess that must be it.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cereal Wars

**Author's Note:**

> Rating because Tony has a potty mouth.
> 
> So I saw a commercial on tv the other day, one that I've seen many times before, heard the tag line and fic happened. I don't really have more of an excuse for it than that.

Tony had walked in on Steve eating before, had shared any number of meals with him. That came with the territory when he’d opened up his old family home on Park Avenue to the Avengers to use as a base while the remodelling of the Tower was being done. But, because Steve was being a stubborn idiot and insisting on returning to his own apartment more often than not of an evening, not often breakfast. Power bars shoved down throats as they suited up and ran to the Quinjet didn’t count.

For Tony, breakfast could be anything from a distracted cup of coffee as he ran his eyes over results from the experiment he’d been running over night to the full blown extravaganzas that Clint loved to put together on a Sunday when they were all there in the Mansion and had nowhere else to be. 

But breakfast should never look...painful. Breakfast wasn’t supposed to be a chore.

“What the fuck are you doing?” 

Steve looked over towards Tony, back to the bowl, newspaper, and glasses of juice and milk spread out in front of him, and then back to Tony. He turned his attention back to the newspaper as he replied, “Well, it sure looks like I’m eating breakfast and reading the newspaper. I guess that must be it.”

“Uh-huh, yeah, no. Breakfast shouldn’t induce grimacing. Whatch'ya got there?” Tony reached out and pulled the bowl towards himself over the island counter top, leaving Steve with his spoon in his hand and halfway to his mouth.

Steve continued to lift his spoon to his lips and took the contents into his mouth, chewing briefly and swallowing before speaking. “It’s good for me. Good for the heart.”

Tony poked at the bowls contents suspiciously, the four pillow shaped objects floating in milk, one of them with a couple of curved, bite-sized pieces missing. “So’s laughter. And good sex. Not what I asked. What, specifically, are these...” He poked at one of the light golden brown blocks again. “...things?”

Steve sighed and took his bowl back. “They are called Shredded Wheat and they’re part of the nutrition program I was put on after the Serum. They were highly recommended at the time.” He gave Tony a pointed look. “You need more than coffee to keep yourself in peak condition. A good wholesome breakfast is the cornerstone of any healthy eating plan.”

Tony shuddered, a full body shimmer as a couple of ghosts walked over his grave, and shook his head. From the real flesh and blood Jarvis’ lips to his father’s to Steve’s. “You call me Master Tony and I _will_ slap you.”

Steve was getting more used to the speed of Tony’s thought processes, more used to the non sequiturs he would throw out, better able to just roll with it even if he often still had no clue what Tony was talking about. He looked at Tony and deadpanned. “I am so scared. Can you see? This is me terrified.”

“Ok, so I’ll put on the suit first and then slap you.”

“By the time you get the suit I’ll be halfway back to Brooklyn.”

“I think I liked you better when you were still all ‘waaah, 21st century, how do I...” Tony waved his hand around in the air. “...anything’.”

Steve was also getting better at ignoring Tony’s jibes and throwing out a few non sequiturs of his own to get conversations back on track. “They’re a good source of roughage too.”

“Roughage? Roughage! Yeah, thanks for that image. No one wants to think about Captain America taking a dump. It’s unpatriotic. Your insides are supposed to be made of bravery and spangles. And that diet advice was from, like, 70 years ago, Cap.”

“Or about 18 months depending on your perspective.”

Tony frowned, conceding the point, as Steve went back to eating and reading his newspaper. “Yeah, well, times change. Things that are good for you aren’t necessarily expected to hurt at the same time any more. What does it taste like?”

Steve shrugged as he swallowed his next mouthful before replying. “Better than rations.”

“So not an answer.” Tony pulled open a drawer and grabbed a spoon before sitting down on the stool next to Steve. “Gimme a taste.”

Steve clutched his bowl defensively to his chest. “Get your own.” 

“And if I do are you gonna be happy when I put all but one bite in the trash? Kinda wasteful don’t you think? Starving kids in Africa and all that.”

Steve’s eyes narrowed at Tony’s blatant manipulation but he held out his bowl anyway. 

Tony grinned at Steve as he stuck his spoon into the bowl and broke off a bigger piece than was strictly necessary from one of the blocks of cereal. He kept smiling as he brought the overloaded spoonful towards himself and even as he took the contents into his mouth. It didn’t last once he began chewing, his expression changing to one of intense distaste. 

Steve couldn’t understand the words Tony was saying as he quickly walked to the sink so that he could spit out the mouthful of cereal but he could see the fine spray of milk and wheat particles that Tony was also emitting. He turned his head away in disgust. “Go get a mop and clean that up.”

Tony grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and rinsed out his mouth. “How in the hell can you stomach that crap, Rogers? Are you punishing yourself for something? ‘Cause no one would _choose_ to eat it.”

“ _I_ chose it.” The only sign of Steve’s irritation with Tony’s continued presence and questioning of his behaviour was the tight set of his shoulders as he flipped the page of his newspaper. “And I’ll be out of your way as soon as I’m done.”

“You’re not in my way...I only meant...” Tony started opening cabinet doors, seemingly at random, looking for the cereal boxes. “Little help here, JARVIS.”

“Second door to your upper right, sir.”

“Thanks, buddy.” Tony opened the correct door and pulled out the first box that came to hand and threw it onto the counter beside Steve. “I only meant that we have options. Breakfast has moved out of the Dark Ages in the last 70 years.

Steve hesitated, his mouth opening then closing again as he looked worriedly at the box of Lucky Charms.

“Barton won’t mind,” Tony continued as he located another bowl and set it down on the counter.

“Maybe not,” Steve conceded, “but I’m really not sure that much sugar would mix well with the Serum.”

“Okay, yeah, you might be...let’s not test that theory.” Tony’s hand reached out to take Steve’s bowl again as he waved his other hand at the cabinet. “But the point is we have better options here in the 21st century.”

“No!” Steve almost yelled as he pulled his bowl out of Tony’s reach. “The point is this...is...I _know_ this.” Steve’s anger dissipated when he saw Tony take a step back and his voice softened. “This is familiar. The packaging may be different but this? _This_ I know. _This_ I remember.”

“Yeah...ok...I...I didn’t...think.”

“You never do,” Steve said quietly, all the fight gone from him as he stood and refolded his newspaper. He tucked it under his arm and started gathering up the remains of his breakfast. “Now, I know I’m a guest in your house but, if you don’t mind, I’d like to finish my breakfast and read my newspaper in peace. I’ll be out on the terrace if anyone needs me.”

Tony was silent as he watched Steve go, one of the few times in his adult life that he was at a complete loss for what to say.

 

****

 

Steve had finished his breakfast and had moved on to the crossword in his newspaper when Tony appeared in his periphery, edging into view and fiddling with something in his pants pocket. He let Tony hover in the still open French doors that led from the kitchen for a moment or two, waiting to see what he would say or do, then, when Tony didn’t get any closer, eventually said, “Let me guess. There’s a more modern way to do puzzles too?”

Tony walked towards Steve, stopping only a foot or so away. “Yeah, now you mention it there is. I just figured with the whole anti-progress thing you’ve got going on...”

Steve interrupted with a sigh. “It’s not that I’m anti anything, I just...”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Tony flapped his hand at Steve’s newspaper and the remains of his breakfast. “Familiar things. Which made me think you might prefer this.” He pulled his hand from his pocket and held out a small notebook and pen to Steve. “You know. If you wanted to...write things down instead of making a note on your phone or tablet like regular folks.”

Steve’s lips curled up in a half smile. “Did you just call yourself _regular folks_?”

“What? No!” Tony exclaimed, mock offended. “I just talk. JARVIS does all the boring stuff like note taking.”

“I live to serve, sir.” JARVIS’ voice floated out from the kitchen and Steve stifled a laugh.

“I swear I’m going to reprogram the sass right out of him one of these days,” Tony grumbled but it was half hearted at best. He shook his head and thrust forward the notebook and pen again. “So, yeah, thought you might have a use for them”

Steve set his puzzle down on the table at his side and took the book and pen from Tony. “Thank you. It’s, ah, very thoughtful of you.”

“It’s been known to happen occasionally,” Tony acknowledged with a smile. He pointed at the book. “I, ah, took the liberty of jotting a few things in it. To help you get up to speed.”

“Oh. Okay.” Steve flipped through the book and saw that the first three pages were filled with Tony’s quick scrawl.

“Yeah. I know SHIELD gave you packets and a tablet full of things to watch but I...well I...my perspective on what’s important to catch up on is gonna be much cooler and more interesting.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Steve agreed with a smile as he looked back up at Tony. “Maybe we could make a start on it and watch a couple of the movies later?”

Tony grinned. “Sure. You won’t believe the choice of popcorn flavours you can get these days.”


End file.
